Drive-chain



H. S. HART.v DRIVE CHAIN.

(No Model.)

No. 520,231. Patented May 22, 1894.

INVENTOR -16; ATTORNEY.

- WITNESSES:

ml mm mm MANY,

II-mien. n. a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD S. HART, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

DRIVE-CHAIN.

5PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,231 dated May 22, 1894.

Application filed January 19, 1892. Renewed April 23, 1894. Serial No. 508.716. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HOWARD S. HART, a cit zen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improved Drive-Chain, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved drive chain and consists in the novel method of construction and arrangement hereinafter fully described.

The object of my invention is to construct a drlve-chain which can be economically built and when built will be exceedingly strong, said chain consisting preferably of links formed of one piece in such a manner that there 1s comparatively no waste of stock, and the coupling pieces which serve to hold the links together and cause them to be easily capable of engagement and disengagement.

My invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of drive chain showing two links and their intermed ate coupling. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of chain when in a position to allow the detachment of one link. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of a partly finished link blank.

A A are chain links formed from blanks which are struck out of sheet metal of the proper thickness, said blanks having the appearance indicated by Fig. 5, excepting that one end of the blank in said figure shows the link partially formed. By referring. to the unfinished end it will be observed that there are two tongues, designated a and b, which are connected to the sides of the link by a strip of metal sufiiciently wide to afford all the strength needed. The tongue a which extends outward is preferably slightly shorter than the tongue I) which extends inward, so that when they are rolled up into the round pintle bearing C as shown at the opposite end of the figure, the joint or place where the edges of the said tongues meet will be at or near the outer extremity of the link preferably, the object of this being to have the inner face of the pintle present a smooth bearing surface.

An intermediate coupling B is constructed of substantially the shape illustrated in Figs. 2 and tin which it is shown as having hooked bends at each end extending nearly around the adjacent end pintles C of two links, the said links being slightly separated. In order to maintain this separation and at the same time retain the pintles within the bent'ends of the coupling, the coupling has the partitioning inward bend D midway between the pintles, the space between the bent ends of the coupling B and the inward bendD being but sufficiently wide to allow a body of the thickness of the link blank to pass freely through laterally so that when the coupling and link are thrown into the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 one of the links can be slid to one sideand out. Should it be desired the pintles may be slightly bent down as indicated by cl (Fig. 2) so as to bring the center of the pintle into line with the sides of the link, thereby permitting the hook ends of the coupling to be bent slightly farther around the pintles and more securely hold them, without preventing the detachment of the links.

It is obvious that pintle bearings may be constructed in other ways, by swaging up for illustration, and therefore I do not wish to limit the construction of my chain to links having pintles formed in a specific way.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'

In a drive chain the links A A having the extensions a, I), rolled up to form the enlarged cylindrical end pintles C C in combination with the intermediate coupling B having C- shaped ends carrying the link pintles, which are held within said C-shaped ends by an intermediate bend D in the coupling, the spaces between the bend D and the C-shaped ends being suificiently great to permit the side of the link to be passed through and thereby permitting the disengagement of the links, substantially as described.

HOWARD S. HART.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. KIRKHAM, F. L. HUNGERFORD. 

